


The Chef

by Full_Moon_Lover



Series: 25 Days of Christmas [11]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Chefs, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Chefs, Fluff, Food Critic, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8820766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Full_Moon_Lover/pseuds/Full_Moon_Lover
Summary: “You’re a highly known critic and I own a restaurant but you’re the kid I used to tease in high school and oh sweet rosemary, you’re reviewing my restaurant?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Day 11!

Everyone knew the critic was coming. No one knew who the critic actually was or when he would come but it was only a matter of time. 

Dan had everyone on high alert. Any signs of the critic and they had to let him know so that he could give them the best experience of their life at his restaurant. He couldn’t afford to mess it up. 

His restaurant was fairly new and, even though so far it had been a huge success, Dan knew that a bad review from one of the most well known critics in England could mean the end of his career as a chef. He had to be extremely careful. Now if only one of his employees could figure out who the critic actually was, it would make his life much easier. 

He was preparing one his famous pea soups with fresh cream and grated parmesan on top when one of the waiters, PJ, came running in the kitchen out of breath. “He’s here! We know who the critic is and he’s here.” Dan didn’t bother asking just how they had figured out who the critic was and instead got right work. 

“PJ, go back outside and make sure he gets the best service of his life then come back and tell me what he ordered. We have to make sure to serve him first so that we don’t leave him waiting for too long”, Dan ordered. He knew that he could trust PJ to carry out a marvellous job and so he focused on preparing the for instead. 

After all, a good and efficient service would definitely get them bonus points but it was the food that truly mattered in the end. Efficient service wouldn’t matter in the long run if the food wasn’t up to standards. 

PJ walked back into the kitchen after a few minutes, a huge grin on his face. “He ordered the peppered steak with roast potatoes and grilled asparagus”, he announced and Dan finally understood why PJ seemed to be so excited. That was his best dish, one that he could do in his sleep. Dan was going to have no problem impressing the critic and he was absolutely certain that a good review was in the bag. 

He was just about to start preparing the steak when PJ interrupted him. “He wants to talk to you before you start preparing the food. I think it was something about his partner having some dietary requirements.” 

Dan couldn't help but frown at that. Dietary requirements complicated things but he was sure that he could handle anything that the critic threw his way. He nodded and took off his apron, making sure to wipe his hands well. It wouldn’t do to make a bad first impression on the critic. 

He walked out of the kitchen and walked over to the table PJ had told him about. Dan stopped in his tracks halfway there. Oh hell no. 

The critic was Phil. Phil lester. The same Phil who Dan had enjoyed teasing when they were still teens in secondary school. There was no way Dan could talk to him. 

Phil couldn’t find out just who ‘Dan the chef’ was. If he did then he might try to write a bad review about the restaurant just to get back at Dan for all his teasing when they were younger regardless of how much he enjoys the food. 

He quickly turned around and walked back to the kitchen, only to come face to face with an expectant looking PJ. “Where his partner’s dietary requirements really so bad?” he asked when he saw the look of horror on Dan’s face. 

Dan shook his head and started pushing PJ outside of the kitchen. They had no time to waste. He needed to start working on the peppered steak and trying to think up of ways he could avoid showing his face to Phil without looking too suspicious and end up giving a bad service along the way. 

“You need to go out there and ask his partner for her dietary requirements yourself”, he ordered when he noticed PJ about to protest. “The critic is someone I used to go to school with when I was younger. Let’s just say that I wasn’t really the nicest person to him. He can’t know that I’m the chef or we’ll risk him writing a bad review just to get back at me.” 

PJ seemed to have understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded. “I’ll try my best to distract him but you know how much critics like to talk to the head chef. I don’t think you’re going to be able to avoid him forever. Maybe throw in a free bottle of wine once he realises it’s you?” he suggested. 

Dan nodded, although secretly he was hoping that it wouldn’t have to come to this. From what he could remember of Phil, he had never seemed the kind try and get revenge and he always had a smile on his face, even when Dan was teasing him. He knew better than anyone though that people changed and, after all, it had been more than nine years since they had last seen each other. 

He started peppering the steak and seasoning it with salt and rosemary when PJ came back in the kitchen, looking as if he had bad news. “He still wants to speak to the chef, doesn’t he?” Dan asked, dreading the answer. 

His suspicions were confirmed to be right when PJ nodded and looked at him with sympathy. “I’m sorry Dan. I tried, I really did, but he insisted. Something about getting the word straight to you.” 

Dan sighed in defeat and nodded. He should have known that the most well known critic in England would not settle with speaking to just the waiters. All critics wanted to talk to the chef and Dan knew that if he kept trying to avoid it he would look unprofessional and end up getting a bad review anyways. 

He smiled at PJ, trying not to seem as put off as he actually felt and then braced himself. “Put the steak on the grill and make sure it doesn’t burn. You’ve watched me do this enough to know what you should and shouldn’t do”, he told PJ just before he walked out of the kitchen. 

Dan tried really hard to look composed and professional instead of like someone about to walk to their death. He saw Phil waiting patiently at his table and gulped before walking over. The second he saw Phil’s face up close, he knew that the other recognised him and any hope of pretending not to know him evaporated together with his dreams of getting a good review. 

“Dan?” Phil asked, looking surprised. “I didn’t know you were the chef at this restaurant.” 

Dan put on the brightest smile he could muster at the moment and nodded. “Chef and owner actually”, he admitted. The cat was out of the bag now so there was no use in hiding the fact that he also owned the place. He just hoped that Phil could find it in himself to at least forget about their shaky past and keep an open mind when writing his review. 

Phil didn’t actually seem to be that angry to see him, now that Dan was getting a better look at him, On the contrary, it actually looked as if he was happy to see him which only confused Dan more. Why would he be happy to see someone who had treated him so badly in secondary? 

In Dan’s defence, he had always been careful not to take his teasing too far. He knew how bad secondary could be for a teenager though so he wasn’t silly enough to think that his teasing wouldn’t have hurt Phil in some way. 

Maybe Phil was trying to trick him. Act as if he was happy to see him so that Dan would feel safe and unintentionally slip up. Then he would have a genuine reason for writing a bad review and ruin Dan’s career. 

Dan couldn’t let that happen. He had worked way too hard to get so far only to have it all ruined with one bad review. 

Phil seemed to be unaware of everything that was going through Dan’s head and kept smiling obliviously. “The restaurant is really nice, I’m impressed. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that my friend is gluten intolerant so the dessert will have to be something to cater to that. Is it a problem?” 

Dan had to stop himself from letting out a breath of relief. Gluten free dessert was something that he had covered so it wouldn’t be a problem. “Of course not, we have a wide variety of gluten free desserts which I’m sure your friend will enjoy very much. I’ll have the waiter bring out a selection for you to choose as soon as you’re done with your steak”, he said politely, a smile still on his face. “The food should be with you momentarily. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” 

He turned around and walked back to the kitchen, feeling quite proud over how he had handled it. Dan had never been more glad to have decided to offer gluten free options when he was deciding on the menu for his restaurant. At least he had avoided getting points deducted for that. 

Walking into the kitchen, he saw PJ about to plate the steaks and smiled. he knew he could trust his best waiter and long time friend to have his back while he dealt with Phil outside. “Thanks mate. The steaks look cooked to perfection. I know i wouldn’t have done it without your help.” 

“Of course. You know I’ll always have your back. How did it go with the critic?” he asked, looking worried. PJ knew how important getting a good review was for the future of the restaurant. He had been by Dan’s side from the very beginning and he didn’t want to see everything falling to pieces over something like this. 

Dan wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to answer his friend. Phil had actually acted really friendly and almost as if he was glad to see him. That didn’t mean they were out of dangerous waters yet. This could all be some plot on Phil’s end to get them to mess up so they all had to be extremely careful. 

“He didn’t glare at me or judge me for my past mistakes so I think it went better than I had imagined”, he finally settled on, not wanting to get anyone’s hopes up but also not wanting to give the impression it went a lot worse than it actually did. 

Dan put the finishing touches to the plates then picked them up. “I’ll take care of these, don’t worry. Maybe I can figure out what game he wants to play and what better way to do that than to serve him myself?” 

He walked out of the kitchen without waiting for a reply and served his guests their peppered steak. Dan couldn’t deny the pride he felt over noticing the impressed look on Phil’s face. The peppered steak was his signature dish so he was fairly certain that they would be able to find no faults with it. 

“Buon appetite”, he said before walking back into the kitchen to the sights of a very worried PJ pacing around. He laughed and hurried to reassure him. “Mate don’t worry. The steak was done to perfection and the critic looked really impressed. We’ve got this in the bag.” 

He had barely gotten the last word out when a frenzied Phil hurried into the kitchen, looking as white as a sheet. “My friend just fainted as we were having dinner. I need some ice while we wait for an ambulance.” 

Dan was in complete shock. Could people faint while having dinner? Was it something wrong with the steak? As insensitive as he knew he was being, Dan couldn’t help but hope that Phil’s guest hadn’t eaten any of the food before fainting. Maybe then they could get out of this with their reputation intact. 

PJ seemed to realise that Dan was in a completely other world at the moment and hurried to get Phil the ice he requested. 

Dan finally seemed to snap out of it and he followed them out as soon as Phil was handed the ice. He couldn’t help but wince when he saw the woman laying down on the floor, unresponsive. A part of him desperately wanted to go hide in a corner and cry over how horrible this night was turning out to be but, one look at Phil made him change his mind. 

The guy looked absolutely devastated and out of his depth. Dan couldn’t just walk away from him like this so instead he walked closer and took the ice pack from him. “I think actually using the ice pack on her would be much more beneficial”, he said before crouching down and slowly starting to press it to her forehead. “Did they tell you how long it’s going to be until the ambulance gets here?”

Dan stepping in seemed to shake Phil out of his reverie and he quickly nodded. “It shouldn’t be more than five minutes now.” His estimation proved to be correct since, less than five minutes later, the ambulance was seen pulling in. Dan made sure to keep pressing the ice pack to her face until they rolled in the stretcher and then pulled back. Better to let the experts handle the situation. 

They had her in the ambulance in a few minutes and Phil obviously offered to accompany her in the ambulance. Dan watched the ambulance drive away with mixed emotions. 

He was glad that Phil’s friend would get the medical attention she needed but he was left unsure over the faith of his restaurant. 

*

Two days after the incident, Dan was trying to move on with his life and not worry. No one had contacted him about the fate of Phil’s friend and no negative reviews about his restaurant had made appearance so he was hoping it was all water under the bridge. 

All his hope evaporated when he saw Phil walk in to his restaurant after closing hours. His face looked completely blank so Dan couldn’t even try to get an idea of what this visit was about. I’m doomed. His friend died at the hospital and now he’s here to tell me it’s all my fault. He’ll end up suing the restaurant and my reputation will be ruined forever.

All the worst possible scenarios kept running through his head and he was well on his way to panicking when finally Phil decided to talk. “I’m here to thank you.” What?

Dan was at a complete loss. What could Phil possibly thank him for? He was expecting screaming, fighting and law threats. Anything but this. 

Phil seemed to notice the shock on his face and chuckled. “When Jessica fainted I hand idea what I was supposed to do. I wasn’t even the one to call the ambulance. I went into complete shock and everyone else had to step up and help me. All I could think of was the fact that Jessica was unresponsive and that’s usually a very bad sign.”

“You looked just as out of your depth as I was feeling but you still stepped up and helped her out, even if you didn’t have to. I can’t thank you enough for that.” 

Dan was left to stare at him open mouthed. Had he really just been thanked for pressing an ice pack to an unconscious girl’s head? 

Phil seemed to be in the mood to surprise him though since there was more he needed to say. “I wasn’t sure how I could thank you for your help so I thought you would want to get dinner with me sometime this week? My treat”, he said, looking hopeful. 

Dan didn’t want to get carried away since, after all. he barely even knew what the hell was going on, but he was fairly certain that he had just been asked out on a date. “You know I’m the same Dan who used to tease you when we were in secondary right?” he asked. Bringing it up was probably not the best idea but Dan wanted to make sure him and Phil were on the same track. He didn’t want his past to come bite him in the ass later on. 

Phil nodded, although he didn't really seem to acre. “I remember just fine but it’s been years and I’d like to think that we’ve both changed a lot since then.” Dan had to bite his lip to stop himself from telling him that he had definitely gotten better looking. Now was definitely not the right time. 

It didn’t need much more thinking on his part and he quickly nodded his head in confirmation. He still didn’t feel as if he had done much of anything to help out Jessica. Definitely nothing that made him deserve being taken out for dinner but he wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to go out with Phil Lester. 

A sudden thought made him freeze up. “Wait, is it professional to go out with the owner who’s restaurant you’re reviewing?” he asked, hesitantly. He didn’t think he could bring himself to actually try to influence Phil to write him a good review but Phil could still get in trouble. He was supposed to be critiquing his restaurant not going out on dates with the owner. 

The last think Dan was expecting was for Phil to look at him with a blank face. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked, looking completely lost. “Dan, what are you talking about? I’m not reviewing any restaurants.” 

Phil was messing with him. Phil was totally messing with him and Dan had been stupid enough to have actually fallen for it. “Cut the act Lester”, he snapped, finally having had enough of these mind games. “Everyone knows that you’re the well known critic sent to review my restaurant. If you want to write a bad review then just do it, no need to play along with my feelings along the way.” 

Dan couldn’t believe he had been stupid enough to fall for such an act and now Phil had something else over him because he knew he liked him. Just his luck. 

Phil burst out laughing and Dan wasn’t quite quick enough to hold in the wince. Here we go. “No Dan, wait, I wasn’t laughing at you. It was more about the…situation. I just don’t really understand why you would think that I’m a well known restaurant critic. I’m a video editor and should definitely not be trusted with reviewing food considering I think Chinese takeaway is the greatest thing since sliced bread.” 

Dan was left to stare at him open mouthed. Phil was not the food critic? How was that even possible? PJ had been so sure. “Does that mean you’ll go out with me now that you don’t need to worry over corrupting me in my line of work?” Phil asked, interrupting his train of thought. 

There were still many things for Dan to worry about. He still hadn’t asked Phil how Jessica was after being taken to the hospital and Phil not being the critic meant the actual critic was still to be expected. Those were all things that could and should not be ignored but, at the moment, Dan couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

“I would love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> How did you enjoy Day 11? 
> 
> This is the last fanfic I managed to get done before leaving for Germany. Tomorrow I'm out all day so I'm hoping I'll get time to write up a oneshot for day 12. 
> 
> Wish me luck!


End file.
